Scotts Miracle-Gro Stole My Ammo

As you know , I ’m not a big lover of water - give suck , fossil fuel - dependent , stream and lake - foul lawn . My blueprint drill is in Southern California where growing exuberant carpets of sward is as natural as Trump ’s coxcomb - over . My distaste for strictly decorative lawn is one reason I ’m a founding fellow member ofLawnReform.org , a countrywide group dedicate to silencing the siren song of the perfect lawn .

Eggs , taters , blimp and downright drinkable coffee tree were served , followed by a pitch fromJan Valentic , Sustainability Officer for Scotts . “ enceinte , ” I think , anticipating fuel to top off my next Molotov cocktail rant , “ another bodied PowerPoint ‘ greenwashing ‘ indoctrination . ”

Jan ’s first slide — a view of her near mum ’s , um , bum , as she kneel over to weed a bed of sedum — busted up the house and instantly burnished her street cred . This , Jan explained , was the common perspective she had of her mother , Betty , labour in the garden . Not bad — a nervy ( could n’t avail myself ) sense of liquid body substance and a family account of gardening . Hats off to Scotts .

The rest of Jan ’s forty - some - singular slides had me sitting up , incline onwards and pay up on act “ gotcha . ” ( I have to admit , I felt cheated . ) The presentation she lay out for the roomful of garden writers strike all the right notes – how Scotts was listening and responding to the concern of environmental groups , supporting community garden , reducing the footprint of their production and packaging , and supporting learnedness for youthful people .

We were introduce to their line of constitutive indoor and outdoor pest controls , weed killers , rise care and plant disease Cartesian product under their Ortho EcoSense recording label . They ’ve acquire the Whitney Farms credit line of constitutional soils and fertiliser merchandise from the Rod McLellan Company .

“ Cool green stuff , ” I conceive . “ Not the company I used to betray when I worked in nurseries a few decade ago . ”

Jan was direct up about the society ’s former arrival and admittedly minuscule steps toward the fleeceable side of the garden humans . “ One aspect of sustainability is staying in byplay , ” she said . And she ’s right . A company ca n’t do much dear from six feet under .

It appears that the folks at Scotts Miracle - Gro have found a pragmatic , shareholder - friendly form of eco - faith . Consumers are becoming more educated and demanding products that are environmentally friendly . Unless Scotts want to go the way of the muddled mammoth , they have to accommodate . They ’re not leaders ; they ’re followers , but they ’re moving toward the light and they have a huge marketplace part , so this matters .

I ’m not naïve . I do n’t recollect the bodied leaders drive their VW new wave to Big Sur for a calendar week , altered their consciousness and saw the light . For now , the eco - products are a minor part of their total product line and job model . natter their site and you ’ll see that the first link you could get across is like a time machine back to old schooltime Cartesian product , some still laden with2,4 - Dand other filthy , but allowable chemicals .

But I ’m a “ be here now ” kinda cat . It ’s sluttish to look back and dredge up the colored past , but we postulate to start from where we are today and move forward , hopefully with all due focal ratio .

Smart companionship are getting on , not under , the bus . I could deal less if you buy from Scotts or from a small-scale folk - own troupe work out of their farm – I ’m a bragging pleader for the little guy rope . It ’s your job as a consumer to create demand for the smarter , safer product . The balance is tipping and that ’s because implicated gardener are paying aid to environmental issue and extend the way with their wallets . Let ’s hope for a day , very soon , when there ’s only demand for the good stuff .

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